


hide and seek

by meclanitea



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Feelings Realization, Light Angst, M/M, fluffy epilogue, idiots to lovers, jade and azul being lil shits what's new, kalim's straightforward thinking solves-ish floyd's problems, oblivious floyd, side treyjade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meclanitea/pseuds/meclanitea
Summary: A loud chuckle fills the room. “Well, that’s certainly a development.”“What is?” Floyd hisses.“That you’re longing for the attention of someone you had previously decided you didn’t care about.”“I don’t long for the seagull,” Floyd scoffs.“Then why are you moping around my office before opening hours?” Azul raises his eyebrow at him.--Rook stops chasing Floyd, but then Floyd can’t get the seagull out of his head.
Relationships: Rook Hunt/Floyd Leech
Comments: 13
Kudos: 51





	hide and seek

**Author's Note:**

> For Aika!! Thank you for letting me write this! Fell in love with these idiots.
> 
> Jamil and Kalim here aren’t meant to be a couple here but you can interpret them as such if you want! Or not~
> 
> Rated T for swearing.

Gaining legs had been a weird experience. When you’re originally several feet long and are much larger than your peers, it takes time to get used to being packed into a body only 6 feet tall - besides the whole learning how to walk shtick. 

Floyd hadn’t thought that trying to cram himself in the gym’s shower room locker would make him wish he were made even smaller by Azul’s carefully-brewed transformation potion. It’s so fuckin’ annoying that he’s been reduced to hiding like this from an unwelcomed presence.

He’s literally sticking out of the compartment like a sore thumb and it’s no fun at all.

“Floyd, is that you?” He breathes easy, recognizing his brother’s deep voice. Jade’s club activities must now be over. Why his twin enjoys going up mountains even though he’s deathly afraid of flying, Floyd will never know.

“My, what are you doing there?” The subtle mocking in Jade’s tone grates on Floyd’s nerves.

He growls. It’s not as if he _wants_ to be boxed-in like this. His pride wins over any need to squeeze himself away (he should be squeezing _others_ ) to evade an irritable torn in his life, and so he lets himself out. Maybe Jade can distract his pursuer in case he gets caught.

“The seagull’s been chasing me.” Floyd grinds his teeth.

Jade’s chuckle echoes throughout the empty room. “If you keep doing that, your teeth will become blunt.” Floyd clicks his tongue.

Not a lot of people can make Floyd actively avoid them. There’s Azul when he’s being naggy, and whoever is chasing him with a complaint of some kind, but Rook Hunt is the only one who purposefully approaches Floyd with the _intention_ of getting on his nerves.

“HE'S EVERYWHERE AND KEEPS FUCKING WITH ME!” he whines out.

His brother doesn’t even try to hide his amusement (so typical of Jade). “You sure have caught his attention. I’ve seen him fawning over you even more than on Leona-senpai these days, but of course, it’s nothing near his dedication to Vil-senpai.”

“I'm so sick of his face. I can even smell him when he's near." Floyd makes a face and gestures his hand as if he were vomiting. The fact that he can recognize that pungent cologne makes him shiver.

Jade shakes his head, still smiling. "If it's really a problem, you can have Azul talk to Vil-san about it."

"Troublesome," Floyd spits out immediately. He saunters to the entrance of the showers and exhales in relief. It doesn’t seem like the seagull is anywhere close. He leaves with hopes of having a peaceful wall back to the dorm because, dear sea witch, is he tired.

\--

It becomes second nature - walking the other way when a certain scent is in the air or acting like the upperclassman doesn’t exist when they pass Floyd by. And after unintentionally developing this habit for the past few months, it takes Floyd about three weeks to notice that he hasn’t had to do his avoidance tactics in a while.

He’s finding a good place to sleep in the courtyard (the dorm is too far away and he can’t be bothered flying all the way there just to fly _back_ for class) when he spots the bane of his existence doing large hand gestures and spouting who-knows-what in front of the Pomefiore dorm head. As usual, the students from that dormitory somehow sparkle just by standing in the sun.

For a brief moment, their eyes meet.

Floyd readies to run away but the pompous bastard just smiles, breaks eye contact, and then goes on flattering the betta fish.

“What the hell…”

And the same thing keeps happening.

There’s nothing more than an acknowledgment of his presence when the nuisance is busy niggling the Savanaclaw leader, or the suckerfish, or anyone really. He even addresses Floyd directly when he greets him in hallways, but otherwise, no other sort of interaction.

It’s fucking weird.

One time, Floyd enters the greenhouse, peeved to have been chosen to get some plants for the monochrome teacher and witnesses Rook make a poem on the spot for Jade’s boyfriend, the seahorse.

“Ah Chevalier des Roses, your dedication to your children is something else.”

Heartlabyul’s vice-dorm head sighs. “Rook, stop calling my plants my kids. And stop calling Jade their other father. It makes growing them to be used in food seem…”

The fancy upperclassman spots him, waves, and then continues his conversation. Floyd leaves, even more cranky than when he came in.

So? The creep has finally backed off. Shouldn’t he be happy? Isn’t it much easier this way? Then why does the feeling that something is _wrong_ keep prickling at his skin?

\--

It’s a testament to Azul’s tenacity in his goals that Monstro Lounge was easily purchased and renovated for their own purposes in their first year there. The simple storage room of the area had been revamped into a full office lined with bookshelves and a small sofa area for business deals and consultations.

Well, the couches are _supposed_ to be for meetings, but instead, Floyd uses them for napping or to idle around. He takes up more than what the piece of furniture’s seats can provide so he puts his feet up on the armrest, shoes and all. Azul has given up on telling him otherwise. 

They’re the only ones in the small room right now with Jade either flirting or gardening or both. He makes noises with his mouth to pass the time since he can’t fall asleep and he’s so utterly bored.

“Azuuuul,” he calls out, making sure to put emphasis on the lengthened syllable.

With an audible huff, Azul stops writing and puts down his pen with a thud. “Floyd, what is it now?”

“Gimme something to doooo!”

Azul rubs his forehead, trying to soothe the wrinkles away. “Just wait for the Lounge to open. I don’t have any errands for you. What had you been doing on your previous free days? You didn’t complain then.”

Floyd thinks about it for a second. “Hiding.”

“Ah, from Rook-san?” Floyd narrows his eyes at the octopus and he shrugs. “Jade told me.”

Of course, he did.

Returning to his paperwork, Azul continues speaking, “Shouldn’t you be happy? You hate clingy people.”

Yes, yes he does. People do not normally cling to Floyd. He’s temperamental and people know that. They often go out of their ways to keep him pleased or at least not upset – and trying to badger him into doing something does not bode with him well at all.

But despite threats of being squeezed, Rook Hunt somehow forces his way through to get Floyd to do what _he_ wants instead. The seagull gets the hint he’s being intolerable but he just _doesn’t_ _care_. Maybe Floyd can admit that it makes Rook a smidge more interesting than the other students who cower from him.

Azul goes on, paying no mind to Floyd’s murmurs to himself, “Well I’m sure that Rook-san just found someone else. He seems to gravitate towards whatever he deems beautiful, though I think he categorizes everything as ‘beautiful’.”

He shakes his head. “Anyway, you of all people know what it feels like to lose interest in something.”

Floyd’s grumbles turn into a grunt.

“Oh my, did I hit a nerve?” Jade and Azul think they’re so perceptive when in reality, they’re just aggravating.

A loud chuckle fills the room. “Well, that’s certainly a development.”

“What is?” Floyd hisses.

The business smile Azul plasters on his face (pretty much asserting he has something you want whether information or physically) is not unfamiliar, but to be on the other end of it is a rare occurrence.

“That you’re longing for the attention of someone you had previously decided you didn’t care about.”

“I don’t long for the seagull,” Floyd scoffs.

“Then why are you moping around my office before opening hours?” Azul raises his eyebrow at him.

Fine. If Azul wants to kick him out, he’ll fucking leave, but he’s _not_ coming back for his shift. He pushes himself in one swift movement. With hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, Floyd heads towards the door.

But no, Azul’s not done with him yet. “I wonder if you did something to Rook-san. He usually keeps up with his ‘target’ no matter what. Leona-san can’t get rid of him, and yet, he’s left you alone.”

Neither of them have an answer so without another word, Floyd slams the door shut.

What makes a man who finds the beauty in everything stop? Hell if Floyd knows. Rather than a tired thing of the past for the Pomefiore vice-dorm head, had Floyd actually managed to be the first to drive him away?

\--

Night Raven College’s hallways tend to be empty in the afternoon. Most classes are done and over with, and students are either back at their dorms or at some extracurricular activity. Sunlight streams through the stone windows, making the area look warm and inviting even though students would associate the corridors with anything but. 

So when Floyd’s walking down the halls, rife with annoyance over Azul’s crude way of making him leave, he doesn’t expect to run into anyone when he turns the corner. _Literally._

“Oh! Sorry!”

“Kalim, I told you to watch where you’re going!”

He registers the offenders as the infamous heads of Scarabia. Jamil fusses as usual over his more carefree companion, his long hair whipping around as he moves, while Kalim tries to assure the other with laughter that he’s _fine_. Not that Floyd received any damage from a body much smaller and more lithe than his, but no one’s asking him if _he’s_ fine. Being ignored sucks, even when it’s unintentional.

Huh. Is that why it stings that the razzle-dazzle senpai went from 100 to practically 0?

“Sorry Jamil!” Kalim clasps his hands together as he apologizes. Turning to Floyd, he waves and says in a cheery voice, “Sorry ‘bout that, Floyd! I was in a hurry! Speaking of which, are you heading to Monstro Lounge too?”

“You gonna dine there or something?”

The sea snake, arms crossed, speaks up instead, “I wanted to get a recipe from Azul.”

Azul’s family runs a restaurant back in the Coral Sea. Floyd doubts his dorm head is going to give any more than a generic recipe for a good price, but maybe that’s why the sea otter is here. He’s skilled at using his enthusiasm and airheadedness to get his way, even without meaning to.

“Hm.” Floyd quickly loses interest in their motives.

Kalim makes a noise as he cocks his head.“You seem grouchy, are you alright?” 

Jamil scoffs. “Isn’t he always like this?”

“No, no. He’s more like ‘hmmmmmmm’ than ‘hm’, you know?”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

The frustration on Jamil’s face is a familiar friend and gets Floyd thinking-

“Hey,” he addresses Jamil, his whole body hulking over the shorter man. “If the sea otter stops bothering you, how would you feel?”

While Kalim looks at his vice-head in anticipation, eyes large and expectant, Jamil shows no signs of being intimidated as he answers, “Free.”

A great chuckle fills the hall as Kalim holds his stomach. With his arms akimbo, he beams at Floyd. “Well, that’s what he says.”

Jamil shrugs. “I got used to him after all.”

The other boy’s eyes start to shine. “Are you saying you’d miss me?”

“No! Why would I-”

Without waiting for an answer, he shifts his attention back to the merman. “Are _you_ missing someone, Floyd?”

Floyd clicks his tongue. Kalim giggles and takes it as a ‘yes’.

“Well, if you’re missing someone, just tell them! Oh, Jamil! If I ever stop going to you, just ask me why. I’m sure there’s a good explanation.”

Sighing, Jamil responds, “I told you already, that I wouldn’t...”

Floyd tunes them out and leaves them to their bickering. 

The sea otter is just spouting out nonsense. Miss the seagull of all people? Hah, what a joke. But maybe asking them about their weird behavior isn’t the worst idea.

\--

The Science Club holds its meetings in the greenhouse. Floyd knows this from a combination of Rook oversharing why he wouldn’t be able to watch a game (in where Floyd would tell him it’s better if he fucks off) and Jade yapping about the mushrooms he’d take their after hiking (Floyd is sure he just goes there to flirt with the seahorse). 

One by one, students trickle out of the venue. Floyd doesn’t look up from his waiting spot until the tell-tell smell of Rook’s strong perfume hits him. When he glances towards the exit, there the seagull is in his school jersey, hair tied in a ponytail. 

Their eyes meet as he nears and the corners of Rook’s mouth quirk up. “Why, if it isn’t Monsieur Malfeasant! If you’re in need of the greenhouse, then I’m afraid-” 

“Why the hell did you suddenly stop stalking me?” Floyd asks, getting right to it.

Rook stares at him before producing a deep laugh.

“What the fuck’s so funny?” Floyd snarls.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Rook replies, “My apologies, Floyd-kun. I had not expected you to confront me so soon.”

“What’d you mean by that? Did you plan this?!”

“Not exactly. And on the contrary, you were first with avoiding me. I’m sure you have your ways to know when I am near, as I do with you, and you use it to evade my line of sight and my presence. I simply decided to adhere to your wishes.” Rook does a little bow.

If Floyd were near a wall, he would have slammed his fist into it. “Bullshit. Since when did you care about what I want?”

“Why? What is it you want, Floyd-kun?”

Smug fucker. “I just want you to answer me!” Talking to this man is impossible. “So you stopped because I was avoiding you?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

Alright. There it is. There’s his answer. Then why is it he’s still so unsatisfied?

“But I am curious, monsieur, why are you here? Why seek me out if you truly hated me?”

Floyd has no idea either. “I dunno! That’s why I’m here asking you!”

His senior blinks at him a few times before a wide grin adorns his face. “This exceeds my expectations. I had my suspicions and it appears I was right on the mark. However, you still do not seem to have a clue.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?”

“Is it not more fun if you earn the answer yourself? Let’s play a little game, Floyd-kun - a puzzle for you to solve. Why did Rook Hunt chase Floyd Leech and why have our positions reversed? Hint one: I am a hunter first and foremost. Hint two: some things are not seen with your eyes, but felt with your heart.” Rook places his hand over his own chest.

There’s no point in Floyd hiding the groan that comes out of him. Why does he even try? There’s no sense in talking to someone like the seagull.

Rook takes the opportunity to come face to face with Floyd despite the large gap in their heights, equipped with a cheshire smile.

“I’ll be waiting for your answer!” He takes a step back, tips his cap, and walks away.

Floyd is fucking dumbfounded. He came here for an answer and is leaving with even more questions.

\--

“Floyd, if you miss another shift, Azul will truly get mad at you.” Of course, Jade is able to find him. Azul probably could, if he had the stamina and athletic prowess to actually search through the treetops. 

Jade stands at the base of the tree while Floyd leisurely sits on one of the higher branches.

“Don’t care.”

“May I ask what happened?”

There’s two choices here: one - stay quiet and have Jade get Azul to come pester him instead or; two - say everything and have Jade meddle in his business and shit. Both options suck but the first would definitely lead to the second, only that Azul will also be there. Floyd is at a breaking point and he can only handle one of his conceited bastards at a time.

“Interesting.”

“What.” Floyd’s getting tired of that reaction, he’d rather people just get to the point.

“With everything you’ve told me, it sounds like Rook-san is exactly the troublesome kind you’d squeeze without a question, and yet, you haven’t done just that.”

Floyd huffs. “He’s all sparkly but he’s dangerous. I’ve threatened him before and he sprayed me with his shitty cologne! He can basically make you do whatever he wants.”

“And what he wants is for you to figure out why you care so much.” His brother shakes his head with the barest sound of a chortle. “Have you thought about his hints?”

“Hunters hunt prey.” Floyd’s hometown is in the depths of the ocean where swimming in the wrong parts can lead to death. Predators watch carefully before they strike and can come out of nowhere when you least expect it.

“And who is Rook-san’s prey?”

Is Jade saying _Floyd_ is the seagull’s prey? What? The victim of some devious joke? No. The hunter has a goal of some kind. If he were up just for a fight, why even bother giving Floyd all these whack clues? God, what a pain in the ass. It is _not_ fun at all.

“‘You have to feel it with your heart’...as expected of Rook-san, only he would say such words,” Jade muses.

“They sound like they’re from some romantic drama or shit.”

What does hunting have to do with romance? What - the person of interest is the prey or some-

Wait. 

No. Fucking. Way.

“Hm?” Floyd must have the dumbest look on his face because Jade chuckles and soon says, “Seems like you’ve figured it out.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” He jumps off from the branch and lands with a heavy thump on the ground. The knowing look on Jade is pretty much a confirmation. What the hell? Is he the last to figure this whole thing out?

“Shut. Up.”

Jade shrugs, not saying anything as Floyd walks briskly back to the main building.

\--

The Science Club meets twice a week and Floyd didn’t think he would be back at the greenhouse so soon. Until Jade’s meddling, Floyd didn’t have an inkling about the vague hints the seagull had given.

But he has no choice but to confirm this. He’ll prove Jade wrong because there is just no way, no fucking way-

“Floyd? What are you doing here?” Trey is at a table full of different flasks with a large plant pot in the middle of all the materials.

“Where’s the seagull?” The seahorse is alone, wearing his lab coat, even though club activities shouldn’t end for another hour.

“Rook? Well...”

“Now, _mes puces_ , this final experiment...why, if it isn’t Floyd-kun! Back so soon?” Rook enters from another part of the gardens, carrying a basket of what looks like weeds to Floyd. Following behind him is a bunch of students, also in their lab coats and holding similar baskets. 

“I need to talk to you. Now.”

Trey starts, “Floyd-” 

“I’m sorry, Trey-kun, may I leave the underclassmen with you for a few moments?” Rook interrupts, motioning his head towards the other members.

The seahorse sighs. “Fine. You better come back in one piece.”

“Ah, I wonder.” And with that, Floyd waits for Rook to trail behind him as he brings them outside.

As soon as they’re a good distance away from everybody else, Floyd turns around and demands, “No fancy words. Was this all some kind of twisted courting ritual?!”

There’s silence at first. Rook’s eyes widen and for a second, Floyd thinks he got it all wrong and Jade fooled him into believing such a stupid theory. But then, the seagull starts clapping, looking oh-so-pleased with himself. 

“My! I see you have figured it out. Wonderful! 100 points!”

Floyd. cannot. frickin’. believe it.

“When I discerned that you were actively fleeing from me, I decided to go back to the basics. If you want to catch your prey, sometimes, you have to go into hiding. And then you observe carefully and bide your time before you attack. ”

There’s a thousand thoughts running through Floyd’s head. Half of him wants to knock Rook out. The other half...is now aware of a fact that is really fucking him up right now. 

“I came to the conclusion that I should no longer pursue your affections if you were to stay away. But there you were, waiting in front of the building with the sweet-smelling everyday flowers to the deceitful poisonous beauties, asking just for me.” Like the last time they met, Rook has his hand over his heart, but this time, he looks at Floyd so tenderly that it’s almost daunting.

His heartbeat is all over the place. And Rook’s right. Floyd could have just never looked back and lived on peacefully, but the truth is, his world would be a lot more boring without the seagull in it.

“What happens from now on, however, is still in your hands, Floyd-kun.” Rook puts his hands out as if taunting Floyd.

Floyd growls and stomps his way towards the other. In the heat of the moment, he grabs Rook’s collar and smashes their lips together.

\--

“Rook.”

“Yes, Roi de Poison?”

“Why do you have an Octavinelle student on your lap in the middle of the Pomefiore common room?”

Floyd indeed does have his head on the seagull’s lap with the rest of his body comfortably on the carpeted floor of the Pomefiore dormitory. His shoes are put aside because apparently it’d be ‘ghastly’ for his mud-caked school shoes to set foot on the way-too-expensive-to have-been-funded-by-Crowley rug and placing his feet on an armrest would be ‘looked down upon’. Either way, his excuse for complying is because Rook says that Vil would scold him even harsher than Azul (and he’s waaaaay too tired for that).

His eyes are closed so he doesn’t know what kind of expression his boyfriend has right now, but his voice is soft as he answers the dorm leader, “Floyd-kun is sleepy.”

He then runs his fingers through Floyd’s hair. Floyd can’t lie, it feels good.

Vil doesn’t say anything else and Floyd only knows he leaves by the clicking of his heels when he reaches the uncarpeted adjacent room.

When the footsteps die out, he asks, “What’d you do? Betta fish-senpai doesn’t give up easily.”

“Nothing, _mon chou_.”

Floyd opens his eyes and he realizes. _Oh._

He isn’t a poet like Rook and can barely string together any romantic sentiment. All he can say is that no one has ever looked at him like that.

And at that moment, he understands.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Come scream about twst with me [@meclanitea](https://twitter.com/meclanitea) on twt!
> 
>  **quick french translations:  
>  mon chou** = my cabbage -->endearment meaning 'my favorite one'  
>  **mes puces** = my fleas-->endearment that can be used for anyone (friends, lovers, family, etc)


End file.
